Category Archives: World News

Bolsonaro aide tells police he sold luxury watches for ex-president – report

Posted on by

Lt Col Mauro Cid said to admit selling watches from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in Pennsylvania mall and handing cash to Bolsonaro

Jair Bolsonaro’s former personal secretary has reportedly told police he handed tens of thousands of dollars to his old boss after selling two luxury watches that Brazil’s ex-president had received as official gifts.

Lt Col Mauro Cid, who was Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp during his 2019-23 presidency, was released from four months’ detention on Saturday after striking a plea deal with police.

Continue reading...

Trump says he will testify under oath that he never ordered Mar-a-Lago security video to be deleted – US politics live

Posted on by

Former US president denies that he asked staffer to delete surveillance footage at center of classified documents investigation

A New York state appeals court judge put the civil fraud trial involving the New York attorney general’s office and Donald Trump and his company on temporary hold after a last-minute legal challenge by the former president’s legal team.

Justice David Friedman, a judge on the state’s intermediate appellate court, ordered a potential postponement of the non-jury trial, which had been scheduled to start on 2 October. The judge granted an interim stay of the trial and ordered the full appeals court to consider the lawsuit on an expedited basis.

We are confident in our case and will be ready for trial.

Continue reading...

When nature calls: Canadian wilderness area offers poop bags to fix fecal furore

Posted on by

Special bag dispensers will be installed after visitors to wild areas around Squamish, British Columbia, left more than footprints

The sheer rock faces, winding trails and granite crags around Squamish in south-western British Columbia have seen a surge of climbers, campers and hikers lured to answer the call of the wild – but who are increasingly causing friction with local people when nature calls.

Earlier this week, the Squamish Access Society announced it had partnered with the province’s parks service and local businesses to erect five poop bag dispensers, placed at busy climbing locations, with four more planned in the coming weeks.

Continue reading...

Libyan authorities seal off most of flood-hit Derna in effort to limit deaths

Posted on by

Only emergency workers to be allowed into devastated area over fears of contamination from dead bodies in limited water supply

Libyan authorities have largely sealed off the flood-devastated port town of Derna from civilians in an effort to give space to emergency aid workers and amid concern that contamination of standing water may add to the already horrific death toll.

Salem Al-Ferjani, director general of the ambulance and emergency service in eastern Libya, said that only search and rescue teams would be allowed to enter parts of the town most affected by the flooding that has left at least 11,000 dead according to official projections. Many citizens have already left the town voluntarily.

Continue reading...

Belarus’s Lukashenko proposes ‘three-way cooperation’ with Putin and Kim Jong-un – as it happened

Posted on by

Belarusian president’s suggestion comes during a meeting with his Russian counterpart. This live blog is closed.

In its daily public intelligence briefing on the war in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence appears convinced of Ukrainian claims to have inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Citing satellite imagery, it writes:

Despite the Russian ministry of defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk [landing ship] has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov [submarine] has likely suffered catastrophic damage.

Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a realistic possibility that the complex task of removing the wreckage from the dry docks will place them out of use for many months. This would present the Black Sea fleet with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance.

Continue reading...

Bahraini human rights defender denied travel to kingdom to visit jailed father

Posted on by

Maryam al-Khawaja fears her father, the political prisoner Abdulhadi al-Khawajar, will die soon after being denied medical treatment

A leading Bahraini human rights defender and the heads of two global rights groups have been prevented from boarding a flight to Manama, where they intended to try to get access to her father, one of Bahrain’s most prominent political prisoners.

“We were told they were not allowed to board us. Despite my being a Bahraini citizen, I was told I have to speak to Bahraini immigration … effectively we’re being denied boarding by British Airways on behalf of the Bahraini government,” said Maryam al-Khawaja, flanked by the head of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, and the acting head of Front Line Defenders, Olive Moore, in the departure area of Heathrow airport.

Continue reading...

Auto workers strike after contract talks with US car giants fail

Posted on by

United Auto Workers union unable to agree deal with Ford, GM and Stellantis, who have seen profits and executive pay soar

Auto workers have launched a series of strikes after their union failed to reach agreement with the US’s three largest manufacturers over a new contract, kicking off the most ambitious industrial labor action in decades.

The deadline for talks between Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and the United Auto Workers (UAW) expired at midnight on Thursday, with the sides still far apart on the union’s new contract priorities.

Continue reading...

Spanish court imposes restraining order on Rubiales after kiss allegations

Posted on by

Former Spanish football federation president prevented from approaching World Cup-winning player Jenni Hermoso

A Spanish court has imposed a restraining order on the former president of the country’s football federation, forbidding him from communicating with, or coming within 200 metres of, the female player he controversially kissed after Spain’s World Cup victory last month.

Luis Rubiales – whose decision to kiss Jenni Hermoso prompted a national and international debate on sexism and eventually led him to resign five days ago – was handed the order on Friday by a judge at the audiencia nacional, Spain’s highest criminal court.

Continue reading...

Li Shangfu: speculation grows over fate of China’s missing defence minister

Posted on by

Li Shangfu, who has not been seen for nearly three weeks, is under house arrest, claims US ambassador to Japan

China’s defence minister has not been seen in almost three weeks, amid reports that he is under investigation, in the latest case of a senior Communist party official to disappear from public view.

Gen Li Shangfu was last seen on 29 August when he gave a speech to the China-Africa peace and security forum. His last overseas trip was to Moscow and Minsk in mid-August, where he met Russian officials on the sidelines of a security conference, and with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Continue reading...

Libya and Morocco: two very different responses to catastrophe

Posted on by

The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

Not one but two disasters have struck in recent days – the earthquake in Morocco and devastating flooding in Libya.

At least 2,900 people are known to have died in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains a week ago, and the authorities say the death toll will rise.

Continue reading...

Prospective AfD mayor ‘will be barred from Holocaust events’

Posted on by

Jörg Prophet, who wants Germany to abandon its ‘guilt cult’, could become party’s first city mayor

Directors of a memorial at a former Nazi concentration camp have raised alarm about the revisionist views of a far-right politician expected to become its local mayor, saying he will be barred from attending events to commemorate the Holocaust if he is elected.

The Alternative für Deutschland politician Jörg Prophet last Sunday finished almost 20 points clear of the runner-up in municipal elections in Nordhausen, a city of about 42,000 in the eastern state of Thuringia.

Continue reading...

‘The waters carried my son away in front of my eyes’: anguished Libyans mourn lost loved ones

Posted on by

Relatives grieve and search in desperation as Derna’s mayor fears death toll from floods may exceed 20,000

Omar al-Rifadi has been searching for his missing 20-year-old daughter ever since disaster struck the Libyan city of Derna on Sunday, when she disappeared, lost in the darkness amid a catastrophic flood that claimed the lives of thousands and swept many into the sea.

“I walked on foot to look for her. I went to all the hospitals and schools. But luck was not on my side,” the 52-year-old said, tears streaming down his face.

Continue reading...

Nicolas de Staël exhibition aims to put art back at centre of tragic artist’s story

Posted on by

Works by painter, whose turbulent life often overshadowed his short career, go on display in Paris

The life of the Russian-born French artist Nicolas de Staël was short, turbulent and ultimately tragic.

Forced into exile by the 1917 revolution, orphaned, a loner who was hopelessly romantic but unlucky in love, De Staël died at the age of 41 after he threw himself out of the window of his Côte d’Azur atelier after the woman with whom he was obsessed rejected him.

Continue reading...

After Morocco’s devastating earthquake, the tourism industry rallies round

Posted on by

Travel and tour operators are getting involved in the country’s relief effort, knowing how vital tourism is to its economy

“My family is safe,” our tour guide Sara Chakir said as we huddled in the streets outside Fez’s medina, waiting for aftershocks until the early hours. Morocco’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake had struck last Friday, 350 miles away in the Al Haouz region of the High Atlas mountains at just after 11pm. It was enough to send our riad swaying, but there was no apparent damage to people or place. It was only in the morning that the scale of destruction elsewhere was clear. Another tour guide, Hossain ait Mhand, said: “My family is fine, but others in their town are not so lucky – homes have been flattened.”

I was on my way to a conference in Marrakech, about 40 miles north of where the earthquake was centred, but detoured home. Those already in the city saw blood bank queues snaking around the streets after a government call out. Marrakech’s medina experienced damage, and 50 people were reported to have died there. Tourists trickled out of the city.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: Libya floods caused by Storm Daniel ‘medicane’

Posted on by

Country hit by record rainfall that followed Mediterranean storm with similarities to tropical cyclone

After battering Greece last week, Storm Daniel caused further devastating floods, this time affecting Libya. As the storm moved across the Sahara, it developed into what is informally known as a medicane, a storm in the Mediterranean that develops characteristics similar to those seen in tropical cyclones, notably a central eye. The particularly warm Mediterranean water fuelled by the extreme heat seen over southern Europe this summer, helped strengthen Daniel as it approached Libya.

By Saturday 10 September, Daniel had reached north-eastern Libya, with winds of 70-80mph, according to Libya’s National Meteorological Centre. The devastation then came from extreme rainfall, as 24-hour totals of 150mm-240mm were widely recorded in the region. One station in the city of Al-Bayda recorded a rainfall total of 414.1mm in 24 hours, a new record for the area. These torrential rains caused two dams to collapse, which resulted in devastating flash flooding that has killed thousands of people.

Continue reading...

Putin and Kim Jong-un exchange rifles as North Korean leader continues Russia tour

Posted on by

Russian president also gave Kim at meeting the gift of a ‘glove from a space suit that has been to space’ amid warnings from US and South Korea about any weapons deal

Kim Jong-un has visited a factory that builds advanced fighter jets, as his tour of Russia moves into its third day and the Kremlin revealed he and Vladimir Putin had exchanged gifts of rifles during their summit this week.

Two days after meeting Putin at a space base in Russia’s far east, where they discussed satellite technology and – possibly – a deal to provide North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine, Kim’s armoured train arrived in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he visited a factory that makes Russia’s most modern fighter jets, Russian news agencies reported.

Continue reading...

Florida man arrested over allegedly hanging swastika flags from bridge

Posted on by

Jason Brown, 48, linked to neo-Nazi group, charged with criminal mischief after police said hate banners were hung in Orlando

Florida authorities have arrested a man after he allegedly hung extremist hate symbols including swastikas over a bridge.

On Wednesday, the Florida department of law enforcement (FDLE) announced that 48-year-old Jason Brown of Cape Canaveral was arrested for allegedly hanging swastikas and other antisemitic banners along the Daryl Carter Parkway overpass in Orlando and charged him with criminal mischief.

Continue reading...

Virginia: baby and dog die after being left for hours in car, police say

Posted on by

Police say woman, 40, arrested and charged with felony child neglect as sheriff’s office says charges could be upgraded

A 11-month-old baby and a dog died after being left in a car for over six hours in Virginia, authorities announced on Wednesday.

Police responded to a call at a hospital in Newport News at about 4pm on Tuesday after a man in his 80s entered the emergency room and said he had a “deceased child” in the back of his car, the York-Poquoson sheriff’s office said in a press briefing.

Continue reading...

Far-right fanatic given 17 years for role in Brazil coup attempt

Posted on by

Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, is first rioter to be tried for January assault on Latin America’s largest democracy

Brazil’s supreme court has sentenced a far-right fanatic to 17 years in prison for his role in the failed attempt to topple the country’s leftwing government on 8 January this year.

Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, a sanitation worker from São Paulo, was the first rioter to face trial for January’s dramatic assault on Latin America’s largest democracy.

Continue reading...